title: Validation of an improved pediatric weight estimation strategy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To validate the recently described Mercy method for weight estimation in an independent cohort of children living in the United States.
  
  
  METHODS
  Anthropometric data including weight, height, humeral length, and mid upper arm circumference were collected from 976 otherwise healthy children (2 months to 14 years old). The data were used to examine the predictive performances of the Mercy method and four other weight estimation strategies (the Advanced Pediatric Life Support [APLS] method, the Broselow tape, and the Luscombe and Owens and the Nelson methods).
  
  
  RESULTS
  THE MERCY METHOD DEMONSTRATED ACCURACY COMPARABLE TO THAT OBSERVED IN THE ORIGINAL STUDY (MEAN ERROR: -0.3 kg; mean percentage error: -0.3%; root mean square error: 2.62 kg; 95% limits of agreement: 0.83-1.19). This method estimated weight within 20% of actual for 95% of children compared with 58.7% for APLS, 78% for Broselow, 54.4% for Luscombe and Owens, and 70.4% for Nelson. Furthermore, the Mercy method was the only weight estimation strategy which enabled prediction of weight in all of the children enrolled.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Mercy method proved to be highly accurate and more robust than existing weight estimation strategies across a wider range of age and body mass index values, thereby making it superior to other existing approaches.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Medical Toxicology, Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics, Kansas City, Missouri ; Department of Pediatrics, University of Missouri-Kansas City, School of Medicine, Kansas City, Missouri.
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Abdel-Rahman
authors.forename: Nichole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ahlers
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.forename: Krista
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Jaylene
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Weigel
authors.forename: Talita
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Baird
authors.forename: Marla
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Michaels
authors.forename: Gregory L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Kearns
keywords: adolescent; body weight; child; developing countries; infant; life support